Museums are for dead artists. I'd never show my work in the Tate. You'd never get me in that place. — Damien Hirst Copy Share Image
As an artist, you don't stop making art because people are not buying it. — Damien Hirst Copy Share Image
The idea of being a painter, I've always thought, is better than being an artist or a sculptor. — Damien Hirst Copy Share Image
I can’t wait to get into a position to make really bad art and get away with it. — Damien Hirst Copy Share Image
I gave up painting by 16. I secretly thought I would have been Rembrandt by then. — Damien Hirst Copy Share Image
I have always been aware that you have to get people listening before you can change their minds. Any artist's big fear… — Damien Hirst Copy Share Image
I quite like it to be risky. I'm not ready to sit down in a chair with my name on it yet.… — Damien Hirst Copy Share Image
In an artwork you're always looking for artistic decisions, so an ashtray is perfect. An ashtray has got life and death. — Damien Hirst Copy Share Image
The idea of going on tour for the rest of my life with old works is not that exciting. As an artist… — Damien Hirst Copy Share Image
Great art - or good art - is when you look at it, experience it and it stays in your mind. I… — Damien Hirst Copy Share Image
Painting is so poetic, while sculpture is more logical and scientific and makes you worry about gravity. — Damien Hirst Copy Share Image
Making art, good art, is always a struggle. It can make you happy when you pull it off. There's no better feeling.… — Damien Hirst Copy Share Image
In fact, the first piece of art I ever sold, I paid someone else to make the next one, so I could… — Damien Hirst Copy Share Image
I always try to make everyone mellow down, make sure everybody's happy. The people I have employed have always kind of stayed… — Damien Hirst Copy Share Image
Even as a kid in drawing class, I had real ambition. I wanted to be the best in the class, but there… — Damien Hirst Copy Share Image
As an artist you're looking for universal triggers. You want it both ways. You want it to have an immediate impact, and… — Damien Hirst Copy Share Image
I've been asked to do a retrospective since I was about 28 and I always thought that was a bit odd. It's… — Damien Hirst Copy Share Image
Even as a kid in drawing class, I had real ambition. I wanted to be the best in the class, but there… — Damien Hirst Copy Share Image
For me, art is always a kind of theater. When I started the spot paintings, I made them as an endless series.… — Damien Hirst Copy Share Image
To be an artist is not about fame; it's about art, which is this intangible thing that has got to have lots… — Damien Hirst Copy Share Image
I think I've always been afraid of painting, really. Right from the beginning. All my paintings are about painting without a painter.… — Damien Hirst Copy Share Image
The spot paintings and spin paintings were trying to find mechanical ways to make paintings. — Damien Hirst Copy Share Image
You can always tell a great painting, because when you get close there are all these nervous marks. — Damien Hirst Copy Share Image
I always feel like the art's there and I just see it, so it's not really a lot of work. — Damien Hirst Copy Share Image
It's amazing what you can do with an E in A-Level art, a twisted imagination and a chainsaw. — Damien Hirst Copy Share Image
Because it's visual art, a lot of it comes from childhood experience but then a lot comes from the visual language -… — Damien Hirst Copy Share Image
I think I've always been afraid of painting, really. Right from the beginning. All my paintings are about painting without a painter.… — Damien Hirst Copy Share Image
You've really got to get down on the floor with yourself and get low in order to make great art. I think… — Damien Hirst Copy Share Image
People don't like contemporary art, but all art starts life as contemporary - I can't really see a difference. — Damien Hirst Copy Share Image
That's the great thing about art. Anybody can do it if you just believe. With practice, you can make great paintings. — Damien Hirst Copy Share Image
People always say that my work is sensational or shocking but there are truly shocking things you could do, and my sculptures… — Damien Hirst Copy Share Image
Picasso, Michelangelo, possibly, might be verging on genius, but I don't think a painter like Rembrandt is a genius. — Damien Hirst Copy Share Image
I don't see what else you can spend your money on... If you want to own things, art is a pretty good… — Damien Hirst Copy Share Image
I always look at money not as a motivating factor but as an element in the composition. You can't ignore it, but you've got… — Damien Hirst Copy Share Image
Art goes on in your head. If you said something interesting, that might be a title for a work of art and I'd write… — Damien Hirst Copy Share Image
Even as a kid in drawing class, I had real ambition. I wanted to be the best in the class, but there was always… — Damien Hirst Copy Share Image
Since I was a child, death is definitely something that I think about every day. But I think that everybody does. You try and… — Damien Hirst Copy Share Image
But I think it's more that when you're young, you're invincible, you're immortal - or at least you think you are. The possibilities are… — Damien Hirst Copy Share Image
Museums are for dead artists. I'd never show my work in the Tate. You'd never get me in that place. — Damien Hirst Copy Share Image
No, I don't believe in genius. I believe in freedom. I think anyone can do it. Anyone can be like Rembrandt. — Damien Hirst Copy Share Image
I did a butterfly show in Berlin, and we had a guy who's an expert on butterflies; who bred them all and who looks… — Damien Hirst Copy Share Image
If the choice is between buying another building or a Pollock, I'd go for the Pollock every time. — Damien Hirst Copy Share Image
